Rubbish spoils the view

Sarah Schwager
RESIDENTS at Berwick Views Estate say they have been up to their necks in weeds and overgrowth since the estate’s maintenance was taken over by Melbourne Water and Cardinia Shire.
Resident Stacey Matthews said the estate had deteriorated enormously since Berwick Views developers had handed over control of the maintenance.
“I’ve only lived at Berwick Views for a year but even since then the weeds and overgrowth have got out of hand,” Mrs Matthews said.
“There is a lot of rubbish lying around, slime on the water and nobody does anything about it. If they let a developer come and create a wetlands someone has to maintain it. Nobody wants to take responsibility.”
Cardinia Shire governance and communications manager Doug Evans said developers had a timeline in which they were required to maintain the estate and then it was up to council to ensure the estate’s maintenance.
He said the wetlands were Melbourne Water’s responsibility.
Melbourne Water spokesman Ben Pratt said watersensitive urban design features, including wetlands, were used in new subdivisions to treat stormwater.
Mr Pratt said the wetlands were incorporated into the new estate to help protect the environment, removing nitrogen and other pollutants from stormwater.
“The wetlands are very important because they allow stormwater to be treated naturally – they act like sponges as nature’s filters,” he said. “Our wetlands will help to reduce the amount of nitrogen entering Port Phillip Bay by 100 tonnes a year by 2010.”
But Raelene Sutton, who has lived at Berwick Views for four years, said the area had managed to stay beautifully maintained until council took over.
“If they weren’t going to maintain it they shouldn’t have allowed it to be done,” Mrs Sutton said.
“The waterholes are chockablock with rubbish, even bikes and prams, and it’s getting worse. It used to be so pretty.”
Mrs Sutton said she had even seen rats at the estate.
Mrs Matthews said a lot of the boards on the walkways were coming up and some were missing.
Shane Wilkinson, who has lived at Berwick Views for three and a half years, said since Melbourne Water and council had taken over the maintenance the estate had started to look neglected.
“It’s really dirty and there are weeds growing everywhere,” Mr Wilkinson said. “Obviously when the original developers were looking after it they had an incentive to keep it looking nice.”
Mr Pratt said Melbourne Water was aware of the concerns some residents at the Berwick Views Estate had regarding the wetlands.
He said one of Melbourne Water’s environmental engineers, Nathan Ackland, met with some of the residents late last year to talk with them about their concerns and since that time, fortnightly litter inspections had been in place, with another scheduled for this week.